Plan concocted to turn tequila plant into fuel in Whyalla

A plant traditionally used to make tequila could be turned into fuel in Whyalla after the local council committed to support the project.

Agave plants could be cultivated and processed into green crude oil if the region's second biofuel project gets Federal funding.

The project is a collaboration between University of Adelaide research centres and Australian Agave Proprietary Limited.

The Whyalla Council will contribute $25,000, five hectares of land and assistance from staff if the project gets Government support.

Agave sap has been used in Central America to distil potent brews for centuries but the succulent is drought-resistant, making it attractive in drier zones.

The council's planning manager Jason Willcocks says the planned facility may also be able to convert farm waste.

"They may use for example a non-woody weed, you know, onion weed or something like that if they got enough of it," he said.

"Some of the famers have got stacks of this weed that could be bailed up and used for this process. You can see there's a lot of kind of synergies with a lot of different producers.

"The project would be somewhat similar to the project that the Muradel group is doing with microalgae but it would use different feed stocks, for instance residue crops or maybe weeds or specially grown plants.

"They put that into a process of hydrothermal liquefaction which essentially converts it through temperature and pressure into a crude oil."

Mr Willcocks says the project could help the region become a renewable energy hub, complementing plans for both wind farms and solar projects.

"There's a lot of other biofuel production with bioethanol for example all around the world," he said.

"But the projects that have come into Whyalla... are quite unique in their own way.

"They really take advantage of the characteristics of this region that probably are not suited to agriculture in any event so it's not as if we're competing with food production."

A separate $10 million trial biofuel plant using algae is expected to begin operating early next year.

You have no doubt been hearing a lot about the Paris Agreement and know that it pertains to climate change, but are too embarrassed at this stage to ask for an overall explanation of what it's all about.